Cleopatra Entertainment: Magick Mtn. (2026) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Cleopatra Entertainment

Korean-American actress, singer, model and fashion designer Hana Mae Lee is probably best known for her role of Lilly Onakurama across the Pitch Perfect film series before further embarking on the comedy-horror series The Babysitter alongside Samara Weaving.  Also known for her fashion line Hanamahn, the multitalented entrepreneur soon became more involved in the action/horror film scene and after meeting up with Hal Satin who soon became her co-writer and co-director on her new debut anthological fantasy horror film Magick Mtn. being released by Cleopatra Entertainment. 

 
Set in Laurel Canyon and featuring a cavalcade of ghosts and goblins tinged with magic and ritualistic murder, it functions as a black-and-white goth rock-oriented Creepshow involving three tales of the macabre featuring the underground music of Eva O, Rozz Williams, Super Heroines and especially Aleister Crowley.  The resulting film is a bit like a microbudget video installation that drifts in and out of clean 4K digital photography and VHS tape.  Though meandering and sluggish at times, it manages to conjure up a hallucinatory demonic lo-fi aesthete that does feel evocative of, say, E. Elias Merhige’s Begotten (also set to begin a nationwide 4K tour).

 
Lord Mmokre, our ghoul of a storyteller, drifts in and out of the frame as he navigates us through a tale of ritualistic murder involving a Deathrock squatter imprisoned by a sadistic psychiatrist, two criminal plumbers who get mixed up with scantily clad court jester goblins and the story of an architect’s pact with the Devil for success.  With Hal Satin handling production, cinematography and editing while Hana Mae Lee oversaw the makeup, sound and choreography departments particularly involving a ritualistic goblin in a thong and knee-high black biker leather boots, the film isn’t so much a fright fest as it is a sensory altering audiovisual experience spoken of the same breath as, say, Coven of the Black Cube.

 
Not necessarily an actor’s piece save for the striking costumes and hairstyles with elements of androgyny and the occult, Magick Mtn. while running a mere 80 minutes tends to saunter from episode to episode.  That’s not to say it is boring but one segment of the goblin bent over on his hands and knees with his ass sticking out intercut with a bearded redneck guzzling beer growling about how he’d like to have his way with the guy went on and on ad nauseam for a moment there.  Still, in theory though her first sophomore effort Hana Mae Lee’s first time in the director’s chair suggests an Anna Biller type, herself a Japanese-American fashion designer turned filmmaking camp horror queen.  Lee hasn’t quite reached Biller’s level of mastery of technical craft and particular aesthetics quite yet but she’s clearly a kindred spirit.

 
Premiering on DVD with behind-the-scenes footage of a live ritual, commentary track, stills gallery and a trailer, Magick Mtn. comes housed in a nice looking amaray case of supernatural minimalist gothic occult art with the disc itself painted in a spiral ala The Twilight Zone.  While a Blu-ray might’ve been nice, the 2.0 stereo audio sounded clean if not low key while the picture maintained a consistent black-and-white patina.  This gothic horror underground goth-rock compendium won’t be to everyone’s tastes but seeing the former Pitch Perfect actress steer closer to forming her own brand of fashionable filmmaking is an interesting development that could use a little tighter tying up of loose ends but overall is a good debut.  Cleopatra Entertainment fans and followers of the bands involved won’t be disappointed.

--Andrew Kotwicki